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Beekeeping is a great way of getting something for nothing....... |
Green animals » native wildlife Attracting Native Wildlife to your GardenNative LizardsNew Zealand native lizards are protected and are not permitted to be kept or collected without a permit from the Department of Conservation. However there is no reason why you can’t attract them into your garden. Lizards provide great pest control eating all manner of small invertebrates and insects. This includes spiders and slaters. Lizards will only eat live food. Lizards live for up to 35 years and live in the same 2-3 square metres all their life, this makes for long term pest control!To invite them to stay provide food and shelter. Provide fruiting shrubs such as coprosma, muehlenbeckia (wire netting bush) and tussock (Carex) species. Lizards are predated by cats, rats, Morepork, hedgehogs and mice. To make a habitat for lizards you could pile rocks a metre high and wide with a north facing entrance or make a Lizard Fortress. Lizard FortressCut some scraps of either onduline or corrugated iron into 30cm squares. Stack two or three high with small stones in between layers. Place in a warm, sunny, dry area near shrubs, tussock or rocks. Do not disturb as lizards will abandon home if discovered.MoreporksOur native owl is well suited to living in urban areas. A pair of Morepork maintains a territory of 3-5 hectares and they adapt well to life in a city park. They will hunt moths under street lights and nest in dense foliage or a hollow tree.Attracting WetaOk, I know what your thinking, I don’t want some huge scary creepy crawly in my garden. But give the weta a chance, I’m sure they think they are very beautiful? Weta are our very own little living dinosaurs and are under threat from habitat destruction and predation.Weta are nocturnal (that’s good!) and mostly are herbivores but will eat the occasional insect they stumble upon. They are an important part of any functioning ecosystem. What about making them a ‘Weta Hotel’. This will provide a safe habitat and somewhere for the kids to observe them and to scare the neighbourhood kids! Making a Weta Hotel |
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